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Pillar of Shame: the Underlying Meanings Beyond the Sculpture

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Pillar of Shame: the Underlying Meanings Beyond the Sculpture This document is downloaded from CityU Institutional Repository, Run Run Shaw Library, City University of Hong Kong. Title Pillar of Shame: The underlying meanings beyond the sculpture Author(s) Tsoi, Wing Kin (蔡永健) Tsoi, W. K. (2013). Pillar of Shame: The underlying meanings beyond the sculpture (Outstanding Academic Papers by Students (OAPS)). Citation Retrieved from City University of Hong Kong, CityU Institutional Repository. Issue Date 2013 URL http://hdl.handle.net/2031/7173 This work is protected by copyright. Reproduction or distribution of Rights the work in any format is prohibited without written permission of the copyright owner. Access is unrestricted. Running head: PILLAR OF SHAME: A CONTEMPORARY ART ANALYSIS 1 CITY UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG 2013-2014 Semester A Art review: Pillar of Shame: The underlying meanings beyond the sculpture Name: Tsoi Wing Kin Course title: GE 1110 Exploring Contemporary Art Course session: C02 Lecturer’s name: Dr. Charlotte Frost Tutor’s name: Dr. Tang Ying Chi Date of Submission: 29/11/2013 Word count: 2273 PILLAR OF SHAME: A CONTEMPORARY ART ANALYSIS 2 Introduction Contemporary art is comparatively a new concept in the art-world in the twenty-first century compared to the traditional historical painting, some judge it as being ungraspably complex and diverse covering from politics or feminism to mass culture with overwhelming philosophical and symbolic meanings (Carroll, 1999; Stallabrass, 2006), whereas the others depict it as being simple and approachable without any fixed and specific art concept and principle (Art21, 2013), allowing observers’ free interpretations. The Pillar of Shame sculpted by Jens Galschiøt is selected in this art review paper to analyse its form, style, genre, process as well as content and context in the contemporary art-world and to figure out its underlying symbolic meanings. Historical background of the artwork Before looking precisely at the sculpture, reviewing its historical background is of utmost importance to recognize its underlying meanings and intentions of the artwork more comprehensively. In practice, the Pillar of Shame (1997-XX) is a sculpture or project created in the 1997 by Jens Galschiøt, who is a Danish artist, contemporary sculptor and a social activist. The Pillar of Shame first established in 1997 in commemoration for Tiananmen (massacre) Movement in China in June 4th 1989, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China in order to perpetuate the memory of the brutality and the victims lost in the crackdown (Galschiøt, 2000). Apart from erecting on Hong Kong Victoria Park in 1997, the Pillar of Shame has been exhibited in different local universities in Hong Kong from 1997 including Chinese University of Hong Kong and City University of Hong Kong to arouse students’ and viewers’ awareness. Albeit the pillar was originally painted in dark colour, it was repainted into colour orange in 2008, boosting public consciousness about the human rights violation in China as well as PILLAR OF SHAME: A CONTEMPORARY ART ANALYSIS 3 connecting to the artist’s The Colour Orange Campaign and the Summer Olympic Games held by China. Currently, the Pillar of Shame is relocated to the University of Hong Kong to continually capture public’s attention and commemorate the June 4th Crackdown. Selected photos of the Pillar of Shame Photos featuring the form, shape and style of the artwork Pillar of Shame (1997-XX) by Jens Galschiøt (Picture 1, first erected in 1997) (Picture 2, re-painted in orange in 2008) [Pillar of Shame in Hong Kong. 1997] n.d. [image online] Available at: [ Jens Galschiøt, an amazing sculptor from Denmark] n.d. [image online] < http://www.aidoh.dk/photos/pos/hongkong/poshkn19.jpg > Available at: <http://i.imgur.com/OnKShiX.jpg> [Accessed 23 November [Accessed 23 November 2013]. 2013]. PILLAR OF SHAME: A CONTEMPORARY ART ANALYSIS 4 (Picture 3, the carve in English) (Picture 4, the carve in Chinese) [Pillar of shame: Words in English] n.d. [image online] Available at: [Pillar of shame: Words in Chinese] n.d. [image online] Available at: <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Pillar_of_Sham <https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Pillar_of_Shame e_2.jpg> [Accessed 23 November 2013]. _3.jpg> [Accessed 23 November 2013]. Artwork analysis The form: A sculpture with artistic and frightening elements Form, is the mode of presentation of its meanings embodied and articulated to the viewers, it is also the fundamental step of an artwork that gives shape to its content and underlying meanings (Carroll, 1999). Pragmatically, the sculpture was mainly made of steel, bronze and copper as raw materials, constituting a two-ton weight sculpture mounting on the University of Hong Kong recently. As an eight-meter tall sculpture featuring 50 twisted human bodies and distorted facial expressions and surreal gestures, it is undeniably shocking and frightening to the viewers at the first sight followed by its in-depth and symbolic meanings, the colour dark similarly creates terrible and miserable atmosphere towards the general public as well. Aside from the weird segments lying on the sculpture, there are some sentences carved on the base of the sculpture as the general theme of the artwork, marking “The old cannot kill the young forever” and “The Tiananmen Massacre, June 4th 1989” in English and red colour. Remarkably, the sculpture was recolored into sharp orange PILLAR OF SHAME: A CONTEMPORARY ART ANALYSIS 5 in 2008 in lieu of dark, intensifying the sense of bloodiness and horror and capturing the audiences’ eyeballs in return. All these physical contours help observers to recognize its subject matters and essence in advance. Style and genre: A mixture of symbolism and political sensitivity Beyond dispute, the sculpture itself is socially and politically sensitive as it symbolizes the bloodshed and historical incident of June 4th Tiananmen Movement in China in 1989 by greatly employing the exaggerated segments and grotesque gestures. Impelled by the cruel massacre, the sculpture serves as a symbol and a platform for general public to commemorate the young students died in the incident and uphold the spirits of human rights and personal freedom that should be guaranteed in the contemporary world. As reiterated by Jens Galschiøt (1998), “the sculpture itself is not intended to make one fell shameful or to judge and criticise a single party, but rather to mark a dreadful event that has had painful consequences for the civilian population.” The primitive purpose of the sculpture is to raise public awareness and to strive for a structural political reformation in the modern China which ensures human basic rights and protects the freedom of speech. Process: Not a static piece of art The root of the sculpture should be traced back to 1993 during the planning stage of the sculpture, including the blueprint model, the selection of materials and exhibiting city. After accomplishing the Pillar of Shame in 1996, the sculpture first was decided to display at the annual candle-light vigil at Victoria Park in 1997 and afterwards exhibited in different universities around Hong Kong (Kwok, 2010), in cooperation with the Hong Kong Alliance in Support Patriotic Democratic Movement in China. Seemingly, the sculpture is not a static piece of artwork lying in a museum or an art gallery to wait visitors’ appreciation, public’s support and students’ active participation are also involved. More importantly, as a dynamic PILLAR OF SHAME: A CONTEMPORARY ART ANALYSIS 6 project belongs to Jens Galschiøt, the Pillar of Shame does not solely mount on Hong Kong, there are another four Pillar of Shame in the entire world to mark their historical dreadful events and protest against their infringements of human rights and freedom, for instance, located in Mexico, Brazil, Berlin as well as Italy. Content and context: Unveiling its underlying symbolic meanings Unlike form, content, is the essence, the theme as well as the underlying meanings of an artwork (Carroll, 1999). As a symbolic sculpture, it is by all means that the sculpture does convey meanings to the audiences in order to resonate the general public and reveal the social injustice and violation of personal freedom in China after the 1989 Movement. On the top of the list, the sentence “The old cannot kill the young forever” carved on the base of the sculpture, “the old” could be interpreted as the existing political power and regime in China whereas the “the young” could be associated to the young generation who is striving for human rights and social justice, pinpointing the context and the intention of the Pillar of Shame at an early stage. For the weight (two-ton), it indicates the heavy lives losses created in the Tiananmen Square Crackdown that could not be recovered by remedies. For the torn facial expressions and the 50 twisted human bodies, they signify the oppression and deprivation of human rights particularly under the bombardment of the June 4th Crackdown. On the other hand, the colour dark symbolises the grief and young students died in vain in the 1989 Movement, expressing their sorrows and despairs. It is ironic to mention that the colour orange repainted in 2008 tones the red (nationalism and communism) and yellow (democracy and social justice) hues together, symbolizing the sculptor’s The Colour Orange Campaign to enhance people’s awareness about the violation of human rights in China and coinciding with the China’s 2008 Summer Olympic Games in the meantime. All of these aforementioned features of the sculpture aim to arouse public consciousness about the current political spectrum and the condition of human rights in China, and pass the PILLAR OF SHAME: A CONTEMPORARY ART ANALYSIS 7 historical legacy to the next generation to avoid oblivion of the sufferers died during the Tiananmen Square Crackdown.
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